


Born Scarred

by Katyakora



Series: Scarred Hearts [2]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Multi, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, soulmates share scars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-22
Updated: 2018-04-15
Packaged: 2018-09-01 10:21:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8620768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katyakora/pseuds/Katyakora
Summary: The fairytales all ended the same way; you find your soulmate and ride off into the sunset to live happily ever after. Leonard had always just rolled his eyes at such drivel. Then again, the fairytales had never even come close to touching on a bond quite like this.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is actually an old story I posted on tumblr and someone recently asked me to add to it, so I thought I might as well post it here too.

Iris West was born scarred. That wasn’t particularly uncommon, generally it simply meant the infant’s soulmate was a fair bit older. But everyone in the delivery room that day was struck dumb by the horrifying tapestry marring the newborn’s skin. In that moment, Joe West wept and swore he would get justice for his precious daughter’s soulmate.

 

So, when Iris came home one day, six years old and babbling excitedly about the boy with her scars, Joe stormed over to the Allen residence in a rage. Of course, the good doctor Henry Allen was similarly incensed that anyone would inflict the kind of harm evidenced on his son’s skin to the sweet little girl Barry had described. So when the girl’s father showed up on their doorstep, spoiling for a fight, neither man was thinking particularly clearly. Both were shouting, neither listening to the other, an inch from coming to blows when Nora Allen pointed out that their children were the same age, and no infant could have survived the kind of damage the scars suggested. Three-way bonds were rare, but not unheard of. The two men apologised to each other sheepishly, eventually becoming good friends.

 

Barry and Iris grew up the best of friends, because as children, that was what being soulmates meant to them. But the older they got, the more questions they had, and eventually Joe sat the pair of them down and explained exactly what their extensive scars meant. That there was someone out there, the other piece of them, who had been forced to suffer greatly at a young age. Someone who would eventually need their love and support. So the pair waited and hoped, crying together over every new scar that wasn’t theirs and praying that their soulmate felt the love they sent to them, looking forward to the day the three of them could be whole.

 

The night the particle accelerator exploded, Iris passed out and woke up with a new scar. A lichtenberg figure, scarlet lines beginning at her right elbow and traveling up to her shoulder and across her clavicle and chest.

 

The second thing Barry Allen noticed when he woke up (after the abs), was that his scars were gone. His skin was pristine, uniform and smooth in a way he’d never known and made him feel sick. Everything, from the grisly mutilation he’d been born with to the appendectomy scar he got when he was eight, it was all gone. It terrified him, the idea that he could have lost his connection to his soulmates. Panicked and confused, he went in search of Iris. She was ecstatic to see him up and awake, but then he was crying in her arms, babbling that his scars were gone, their connection was gone.

 

She soothed him by showing him the lichtenberg figure, telling him that his scars would never be gone because she wore them for both of them.

 

For a long time, Leonard Snart believed he didn’t have a soulmate, and was grateful for it. No one deserved to be marked by his father’s hatred. He was in his mid twenties when a formerly smooth patch of skin on his abdomen became puckered and raised in what was clearly a small surgical scar. That night, Len got very drunk and cried for the first time since he was a teenager. He loathed his scars, but now he mapped them meticulously, finding small nicks and marks that had gone otherwise unnoticed. A white line down a knuckle he’d never split, pale, shiny patches from scrapes he’s never had. 

 

That day, Leonard learned it was possible to hate his father more than he already did. Somewhere out there a poor soul had been cursed to bear the evidence of Lewis Snart’s cruelty. He doubted he would ever find them, especially since he went out of his way to keep his skin covered. Most people wore their scars proudly in the hope of finding their other half(scarification and tattooing were commonplace in most parts of the world), but Leonard had no interest in showing the world what he’d been forced to endure.

 

However, he did occasionally find himself running a fingertip over that knuckle, or tracing the surgical scar through his shirt, finding an unexpected comfort in the solidarity. He wondered what his soulmate thought about the patchwork his father had gifted them.

 

The day Leonard woke up to find a lichtenberg figure decorating his torso, he let his curiousity get the better of him. His soulmate had been  _ struck by lightning _ , he would never have a better chance of finding out who they were. It didn’t take long for him to find out about the boy in a coma in Central City. He snuck undetected into the hospital where he was being held, quite a feat since the boy was in the ICU. Leonard was unexpectedly sad when he saw the boy’s, Barry Allen’s, unblemished skin. He told himself it was because he was disappointed, the young man really was quite beautiful, even under hospital lights. He was interrupted and forced to hide in the shadows when an equally beautiful young woman entered the room. She was dressed remarkably modestly, but Leonard didn’t really take note of that at the time, finding an exit in favour of watching the poor woman grieve.

 

Almost two years later, Leonard stood in that same couple’s living room, delivering a warning despite his better judgement. Everything was going according to plan until Iris West moved to stand next to Barry and he got a good look at her. He had long since perfected the habit of reading people at a glance, so he didn’t miss the pits and gouges that marred otherwise perfect legs, nor the tip of a deep red branch peeking out of her collar. He knew that shape, had mapped it with his fingers for almost two years now. A glance at her hand and there it was, a barely visible white line bisecting one knuckle.

 

“Interesting,” he said softly, eyes pointedly trained at her neckline. “I thought Scarlet was the one struck by lightning?”

 

“I’m his soulmate,” she snapped, thoughtlessly revealing that connection to an enemy.

 

“You don’t have scars,” Leonard stated at Barry, confusion creeping into his demeanor.

 

“They disappeared when I got my powers,” the speedster answered with a frown. “How do you even know that?” Leonard looked back and forth between them for a moment, feeling his entire world shift. He hadn’t cursed just one soulmate, but two. At least until Barry got his powers. They were young and beautiful and they had each other. They didn’t need him. He mentally shook himself and got on with what he’d come here to do, suddenly wishing he could be anywhere else.

 

Barry’s plea wasn’t even slightly surprising but Leonard had never been more tempted. It all made sense now, how he’d been drawn to them both in his own way, chasing after Barry and avidly reading Iris’ work. A part of him was ready to accept it, to accept Barry’s proposal and watch his back, protecting what was his if only so Barry would make it home to Iris in one piece. But he had already saddled them with his scars, they didn’t need to be saddled with a cynical old crook as well. So he turned his back and walked away. They never needed to know.

 

Fate had other ideas. A heist executed a little too close to an intense fight between the Flash and a new metahuman, and Leonard couldn’t keep himself out of the fray, ridiculing the meta with puns and hindering them with cold. He never planned on seeing the shot coming, on throwing himself between Barry and the pain, but a lifetime of standing between those he cared about and punishment held true. The meta was defeated and Barry rushed a barely-conscious Leonard to the crew at STARlabs.

 

It felt wrong, peeling away Cold’s ever-present layers, almost like a violation, especially with his weak attempts to stop them. But Caitlin couldn’t treat his wounds through clothing, so they had to go. Leonard passed out as they finally cut off his shirt, so he missed the reaction to his extensive scarring. Barry missed them all too, too focused on the familiar lines and bumps, the impressive and inescapable lichtenberg figure that stretched across his arm and torso. Iris gasped, stepping closer for a better look but already knowing every mark. She’d worn them all her life. She took Barry’s shaking hand as the realisation crashed down on both of them.

 

“He knew,” she whispered as they watched Caitlin patch up Leonard,  _ their soulmate. _ “At christmas, he saw...he knew. All this time.”

 

“Why?” Barry sounded so lost. “Why didn’t he say anything?”

 

“We’ll just have to ask,” Iris decided, squaring her shoulders. They would get their answers, one way or another. The others were understandably shocked and concerned, but both Iris and Barry waved them off, not interested in discussing this revelation until they’d actually spoken to Leonard.

 

It was late when he finally woke up, the only light coming from the monitors surrounding him. Next to the bed, Barry was sound asleep in a chair, with Iris curled up in his lap.

 

“I should punch you,” Iris hissed into the dark when his eyes finally blinked open. He looked at her blankly for a moment, clearly getting his bearings.

 

“Charming,” he eventually whispered dryly. Iris carefully extricated herself from Barry without waking him.

 

“Were you ever going to tell us?” she demanded.

 

“No,” he admitted simply, igniting her rage.

 

“Why the hell not? Are we not good enough for you?” 

 

He was quiet for a moment. “You know, when I was a child, my father used to say he was doing me a favour. Making sure that my soulmate knew what a worthless disappointment I was. He would say that they deserved it, because if they were a part of me they must be just as worthless.” He spoke in a soft, calm monotone, a stark contrast to the mocking drawl she’d heard him use before. “He was wrong. You don’t deserve this.”  _ Don’t deserve me _ went unsaid but heard all the same.

 

“You’re right,” she agreed, seeing something stutter behind his intense eyes, a dark acceptance. “He  _ was _ wrong. You  _ are not worthless. _ ”

 

Tentatively, ready to pull back at the slightest inclination it was unwelcome, she slipped her hand into his. He looked down at their joined hands, a look of almost comical confusion on his face.

 

“You don’t owe me anything.” But he didn’t let go.

 

“We’ve cared about you our whole lives.” Both their heads turned to look at Barry, who’d woken a while ago. “We’re not gonna stop now.” He got up and worked around to the other side of the bed, taking Leonard’s other hand. The thief’s eyes got suspiciously shiny and both Barry and Iris were forcefully reminded of how Joe had said their soulmate would need all their love and support. Now, despite the appearance he put up, they knew that to be true.

 

“Idiots,” the thief muttered, but there was a wealth of feelings behind the word and his grip on both their hands tightened ever so slightly.

 

“Maybe,” Barry’s grin was blinding. “But we're your idiots.”

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is basically 1300 words of Leonard freaking out

After almost twenty years of loneliness, of only really knowing the love of his sister, the reality of Leonard’s soulmates finding him was overwhelming. Injured as he was, Leonard could not escape their well-meaning, if somewhat stifling and baffling attention. It didn’t make any sense to him. They weren’t supposed to accept him. They weren’t supposed to go out of their way to spend time with him, until it seemed he didn’t go more than an hour without one or both of them by his bedside. Iris wasn’t supposed to giggle at his puns while Barry groaned at the both of them. Barry wasn’t supposed to love all the scifi shows Leonard had grown up with, happy to discuss them at length while Iris just shook her head at the pair of them with a bemused smile. They weren’t supposed to look at him like he was precious, important. 

 

They weren’t supposed to want him.

 

It was too much, too fast. He felt like he was being smothered under their attention, although rationally he knew they were actually being relatively reserved. He was the one who didn’t know how to handle their sudden connection, panic filling him as he struggled to find his footing in the alien terrain he found himself in. He fell back on old strategies, hiding his panic behind a cold mask, each time he retreated from their advances bringing a flash of sadness and disappointment in their eyes. It wasn’t enough to make them leave him alone though.

 

Lisa was around often to provide a buffer, something familiar to lean on when trying to navigate these new waters became too much. Mick’s absence was conspicuous, but not unexpected. Leonard wasn’t an idiot and he had seen some rather familiar burns peeking out at the edges of Dr Snow’s garments. If there was anyone who might be worse at dealing with finding their soulmate than Leonard, it would be Mick.

 

“You’re confusing them,” Lisa told him softly one day, in one of those rare moments when both his soulmates were called away by their daily lives.

 

“They’re confusing me,” Leonard retorted petulantly, knowing she was referring to his hot and cold reception towards his soulmates. His little sister just arched an eyebrow at him.

 

“Is that why you keep pulling back?”

 

“You’re one to talk,” he deflected, “You disappeared on Ramon for a month after you found out.”

 

“I had some stuff to work out.”

 

“And I you think I don’t?” he snapped. “But unlike you, I don’t have the luxury of just leaving.”

 

“I can talk to them for you, if you want,” Lisa offered, but Leonard shook his head.

 

“I don’t need you to fight my battles for me, Sis. I’ll handle it.”

 

In typical Lisa fashion, she utterly ignored him and cornered his soulmates at the first opportunity. The only reason he knew this was because he went from having them there all the time to seeing only one of them for a short time each day, their usual exuberance giving way to hesitance. Now, he spent most of his time recovering alone, with all the quiet he needed to think. To his horror, that was even worse.

 

He missed them.

 

Leonard had only really missed one person in his life, two when he was being honest with himself, so it took a while for him to identify that empty, sucking feeling in his chest. It appeared that he had slowly become accustomed to their constant presence because now there was a Barry and Iris shaped hole in his life that their brief visits barely filled. Still, their backing off did help. Once he’d gotten a handle on the fact that he missed them, he took the chance to really calm down and think about what he wanted.

 

All the fairytales said you meet your soulmate and then you ride off into the sunset to live happily ever after. They never said what to do when one of your soulmates happens to be your former enemy and you’re carrying forty years worth of heavy emotional baggage.

 

By the time his wounds had healed enough that Snow was willing to let him leave, Leonard felt like he had things mostly figured out. He left while Barry and Iris were both out, which probably wasn’t the kindest thing he could have done, but he did leave a message with Snow to tell them they’d see him again soon.

 

It took a couple of days to set his affairs in order, and another day for him to obsess over what he intended to do and to make preparations. That evening, he let himself into their home and began to prepare for their arrival. Iris and Barry came home to the aroma of hot, fresh food and the sound of their thief humming to himself as he stirred a saucepan. Leonard was an average cook, but he’d had Mick do most of the prep work, so, short of burning something, dinner should be distractingly good. They cautiously made their way into the kitchen, moving as though they were afraid they might spook him.

 

“You came back,” Iris stated softly.

 

“Of course I did,” Leonard responded with a frown, glancing up from what he was doing. She looked so relieved to see him it hurt. “Didn’t Snow give you my message?”

 

“She did,” Barry answered, his expression a mirror of Iris’s. “We just...we thought, maybe, we’d screwed up again. That, maybe, you didn’t want…” He trailed off, but the conclusion of his sentence was clear. And ridiculous, because as far as Leonard was concerned, the idea of him not actually wanting them was utterly absurd.

 

“You didn’t screw up, Scarlet,” Leonard assured him, moving the pan off the heat so he could turn and face them, his arms crossing unconsciously. “You didn’t know.”

 

“We didn’t mean to push,” Iris told him apologetically. “Lisa told us that you needed space.”

 

“And now I’ve had space,” he pointed out, “And Lisa shouldn’t have had to do that.” He sighed, steeling himself. He wasn’t used to having to explain himself, which was a part of the problem. “This...isn’t something I’m going to be good at. Honest communication isn’t exactly my strong suit. I’m used to the people I’m close to knowing how I operate, how to...read what I can’t say.”

 

“Lisa and Mick?” Barry guessed and Leonard nodded before soldiering on.

 

“But you two can’t do that, not yet, and I need to remember that.” He hated how hard this was for him, how a lifetime of self-preservation had left him so woefully unprepared to open up to these people who already cared for and accepted him. “So, in the spirit of honest communication, I’m here. With Mick’s best dishes and a bottle of whiskey so that we can attempt to have a conversation that is long overdue.”

 

Slowly, Iris stepped closer. “You don’t have to make yourself do this,” she told him. “We can go as slow and as far as you want. You don’t have to make yourself uncomfortable just to make us happy.”

 

“I appreciate your concern,” he responded, and he really did. In his experience, most people didn’t care how he felt as long as they got what they wanted. “But I want to do this so we can all be happy. It won’t be easy and it ain’t gonna be fun, but if you two are serious about wanting something with me, it’s got to be done.” He took a deep, fortifying breath. “And after, if you change your mind about...about us, I won’t hold it against you.”

 

“We’re not gonna change our minds,” Barry insisted stubbornly. “We want you to be a part of us. Even the parts of you that you don’t like.”

 

“We’ll see how you feel in a couple of hours,” Leonard muttered, but he felt lighter. For the first time in his life he was going to lay all his baggage and issues on the table to be judged, by people who mattered more to him than he would openly admit. But suddenly all those things that had been weighing him down for so long didn’t feel so heavy. Maybe, with the help of his soulmates, he could finally let some of it go.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iris breaks the news to Joe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Um, so, full disclosure; I did start writing this. And then I got stuck. And then I forgot about it. And then I got a comment and went back to it and realised I couldn't actually remember where I'd been going with it and just took a stab. So I hope this is okay and sorry it took me so damn long and is mostly dialogue.

Iris watched her father chat about his day from the couch, trying to calm the nervous butterflies in her stomach. Eventually, she took a deep breath and bit the bullet.

 

“Dad, you’re gonna want to sit down. There’s something we need to talk about.”

 

“Baby girl, what’s wrong?” Joe asked, his face pinched with worry as he sat opposite her in his armchair.

 

“Nothing is wrong,” she assured him. “Or, I guess, I really hope you don’t see it that way.”

 

“Iris, what is this about?”

 

“It’s…” Iris trailed off, biting her lip as she thought, her troubled eyes watchful for any reaction. “...do you remember the day I was born?”

 

“Do I…? ‘Course I remember, greatest day of my life,” Joe said. “What’s that got to do with this?”

 

“And do you remember what you thought when you saw my scars?” she prompted gently. Joe frowned.

 

“Iris, I’ve told you this story before,” Joe pointed out, looking confused.

 

“I know, Dad,” she assured him, “but I wanna hear you tell me again. So we both remember.”

 

Joe’s frown furrowed deeper, but he complied. “I was angry. I was...livid, that somebody would hurt my little girl’s other half so bad.”

 

“When I was a little girl, you told me you swore to yourself that you would make sure they got justice for what was done to them,” Iris added gravely, making her father nod.

 

“I did and I will.” His face lit up. “Iris... have you found them?”

 

“We have,” she confirmed, unable to keep the small smile from her lips. “He’s not at all what we expected, and we’ve got a lot of stuff to work through, but,” her smile broadened, “we just, we fit. It’s only been a couple of days, but already it just feels like we’ve found that balance, you know.” She shrugged, unable to satisfyingly describe how it felt to find the other piece of yourself.

 

“That’s great news, baby, I’m so happy for you!” Joe stood and pulled his daughter into a warm hug. “You should bring this guy ‘round, I wanna meet him! He’s part of the family now.”

 

“Thanks Dad, I’m glad you’re happy,” Iris said as she ended the hug and gently pulled Joe back down to sit. “But, well, things are a little complicated.”

 

“What do you mean ‘complicated’? He’s your soulmate, how can that be complicated?”

 

“Well,” Iris took a deep breath, “for one, he was badly injured recently. Caitlin says it’ll be a while before he’s healed enough to leave.”

 

“Caitlin? You took him to STARlabs?” Joe’s eyebrows jumped at her nod. “Isn’t that a little fast? I mean I figure you’ll be trusting your soulmate with all the hero stuff eventually, but wouldn’t a normal hospital have been better while you’re still getting to know each other?”

 

“Actually, Barry brought him there before we knew he was ours,” Iris clarified a little nervously.

 

“So, what, Barry rescued him? As the Flash? And didn’t take him to a normal hospital for some reason? He’s not a meta, is he?”

 

“No, but, well.. there’s sort of another complication.” Iris looked down at her fidgeting hands, realising that she was subconsciously rubbing a scar on her palm. “He...isn’t actually a stranger. We know him. There’s history that makes things, well, complicated.”

 

“Iris,” Joe said slowly, his tone suspicious, “who is he?”

 

“He’s someone who was hurt for a very long time by someone who was supposed to protect him.” Iris could feel her eyes becoming wet with unshed tears just thinking about it. “He thought he didn’t have a soulmate for so long, because he has so many scars it took him twenty five years to notice the few that came from us.” 

 

“Iris!” Joe repeated, “who?”

 

Iris closed her eyes as she sighed, bracing herself for what might lay ahead. She opened them to look her father in the eye, her shoulders squared and her head held high.

 

“Leonard Snart.”

 

Joe’s face went slack, blank and unseeing. Iris waited, chewing her lip and wringing her hands as she watched her father hopefully process what she’d just told him. His head began to shake, slowly at first and then more pronounced. Iris’s heart sank. Abruptly, Joe stood and began to pace back and forth in front of the fireplace, absently running one hand over his beard.

 

“No,” he muttered, and then again with more force, “no, he can’t be, it’s not possible.”

 

“Dad-,”

 

“No, he’s, it’s some kind of, of trick! Iris there is no way in hell that that man is your soulmate!”

 

“It’s not a trick, Dad! How can you even say that?” Iris demanded, getting to her feet, driven by hurt and anger.

 

“Because I know him!” Joe snapped. “I’ve been arresting him since before you were out of elementary school and there is no way that that criminal has any part of you or Barry inside of him!”

 

“He was fifteen, Dad!” Iris burst out, feeling hot tears filling her eyes. “Fifteen, the year Barry and I were born, and he already had these!” She ripped back the end of her sleeve to bear the old cigarette burns on her forearms. “Who do you think did this?” Joe didn’t meet her eyes, but Iris wouldn’t let him hide. She thrust her arm forward into his line of vision. “What kind of person do you think he had to become just to survive this?”

 

“I know what he’s been through, Iris, but that doesn’t change what he’s done!”

 

“I know that, but you can’t judge him for making the best of a life he didn’t choose,” Iris shot back. 

 

“Iris, you’re not seeing things clearly-,” Joe began dismissively, but she cut him off.

 

“You told me and Barry that one day, our soulmate would need us,” she declared, “to help them heal. And we are going to do that, whether you like it or not. Because that is the kind of people you raised us to be. He’s a part of us, he always has been, and once upon a time you swore you’d protect him as if he was your own.” She stood straighter, her hands curling into fists. “I might have been a baby when you said those words, but I am holding you to that oath.”

 

“Iris-,”

 

“ _ You swore, _ ” she cut him off viciously, “ _ on my life! _ I’m not asking you to like him, Dad, or to start turning a blind eye to his crimes. All I am asking is for you to accept him as my soulmate, as Barry’s soulmate. Accept that he is going to be a part of our lives because we’re not going to let him go for anything.”

 

Iris turned away, suddenly feeling stifled by the trappings of her father’s house, her childhood home. She snatched up her purse and marched for the door.

 

“We’re giving him a chance, Dad,” she said from the doorway, “we just hoped you’d be willing to do the same.” With that, she shut the door behind her, leaving Joe standing forlornly in his living room, both of them with heavy hearts.

 

Joe didn’t speak to Iris or Barry for months following Iris’s announcement, and the frosty silence weighed on all three of them. So Iris was very surprised to see her father’s contact flashing on her phone as it rang. She answered hesitantly, trying to calm the nervous flutter of hope she felt.

 

“I will arrest his sorry ass if he so much as thinks of putting one toe out of line,” Joe grumbled down the line. “But you’re right. He is, unfortunately, a part of you two. So he gets one chance. One!”

 

“Thank you,” Iris answered with feeling, “that’s all we wanted.”

 

“Yeah, well, when you bring him home for dinner, make sure he knows I’m always armed.”

 

“Somehow, I think he already knows. We’ll be there at seven.”


End file.
